Lust (19 page)

CHAPTER 23

It was now or never, and Nooni knew she had to act fast. Once again Truth had shaken her awake from a drugged-induced stupor, and she had staggered into the bathroom sick, but stone-cold sober and plagued with feelings of deep shame and disgust

Last night had been crazy. Monique and Bilal had pushed her into the XXX cinema room, then put her in a sandwich and used her poor body every which way they could. They’d fucked her up against a wall, and Bilal had penetrated her anally while Monique had gotten down on her knees and stuck her face in Nooni’s pussy. Bilal had lost his nut after just a few minutes, but Monique and Nooni had switched positions several times, licking each other out until they both screamed with orgasms. Nooni had hated every moment of it even as she was doing it, but between the drugs and her emotional frailty she’d been unable to fight or resist.

Just minutes earlier Truth had found her sprawled out naked on the XXX cinema room floor, and when he woke her up the sensation of Bilal’s joint was still throbbing up her ass, and the scent of Monique’s pussy was riding all up her nose.

Truth had hugged her and told her everything was gonna be okay. He told her he was about to get her the fuck outta the G-Spot, and after making sure she understood his instructions he dipped outta sight just as Monique walked in the room and said Salida wanted to see her in G’s office.

The office was empty when Nooni walked in, so she sat down across from G’s old desk and waited. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet and she could hear Salida and Ace next door in the stripper’s dressing room trying to sweet-talk the building inspector outta giving them a violation, as they explained that a plumber had come out and fixed all their sewage problems.

Nooni sat there chewing on the collar of her wrinkled blouse and praying for good luck as she watched the ticking clock. Truth was waiting for her outside in the car and she knew she was almost out of time. As soon as she heard the flushing of multiple toilets in the stripper’s dressing room she made her daring move.

Jumping up from the chair, Nooni peeked out of G’s office and saw Ace and Salida leading the tall white man over to the bathroom near the bar. She waited until they disappeared from view and the coast was clear, and then like lightening she darted down the short hall and pushed through the back door.

Daylight hit her as she sped across the pavement like a monster was dead on her ass.

But instead of being pursued by a beast, her man Truth was waiting in the car with the passenger-side door open, just like he’d said he would be.

Nooni dove head-first into the whip, yanking the door shut behind her and shaking like a leaf as Truth came up off the gas and peeled out of the narrow alley.

“Stay down!” he warned her, his eyes glued to the rear-view mirror as he stomped on the gas and she cowered on the passenger-side floor.

The coast was real clear as Truth turned onto the one-way street coming out of the alley, and then hit the brakes hard as the traffic light at the corner turned red. The squeal of the tires cut through the air, and several heads turned in his direction.

“Just stay down,” he repeated, trying to keep his voice calm for Nooni. “We out, baby. I got you out. Now you just gotta stay outta sight as we ride past the front of the Spot, okay?”

Hugging the floorboard, Nooni trembled in fear.

“Can’t you just run the damn light?” she asked. Her terrified eyes searched Truth’s face, scared like hell that somebody might run outta the G-Spot and drag her back inside.

“Nah,” Truth said. “It’s too much traffic out here.” He was scared and counting the seconds until the light changed too. It finally did, but Truth knew the most dangerous part was about to pop off. If anybody had noticed Nooni missing or seen her sneak out the back door, then more than likely they would be looking for her by now.

Truth eased up off the brake and flowed slowly through the intersection with the rest of the vehicular traffic. Approaching the front of the G-Spot, he glanced toward the entrance and was relieved to see the door closed and the outside area deserted.  

He took a real deep breath, and was just about to let it out when the first round hit him in the neck.

Pop!

The passenger-side window shattered, sending thousands of pieces of tempered glass raining down on Nooni’s head. She rose up and glanced outside and saw her ex-boyfriend Maleek aiming his gat dead at her. A terrified scream burst from her lips and she ducked back down again.

Pop!

The second bullet sank into Truth’s right shoulder.

Pop!

The third slug whizzed in from the shattered window. It penetrated Truth’s right temple, exited his eye socket, and blew out the driver’s window as it continued on its path.

The chaos of tires screeching, horns honking, and the terrified screams of pedestrians filled the air. People ran like hell on the streets. Some squatted behind parked cars, while drivers ducked down and put the petal to the metal, doing their best to get out of the line of fire.

From the floor of the car, Nooni could only scream. Truth’s dead hands had fallen away from the steering wheel, and the driverless car had turned left into oncoming traffic, barely missing a passing garbage truck.

The car continued, out of control, until it jumped the curb and the front bumper collided with a Johnny pump, bringing it to a halt not more than three steps from the front entrance of the G-Spot.

The safety inspector was the first one out the door. He was followed closely by Greco, Ace, Pluto, and Monique. They stared into the glass-shattered windows, eyeing Truth’s lifeless body and listening to Nooni scream for help.

“Oh, no,” Pluto moaned, rushing over to his nephew and snatching the car door open. Truth’s body fell over and Pluto caught him in his arms.
“Ah, shit man!”
Pluto cried out, his face contorted in grief and horror. “What the
fuck?
” he hollered at the sight of his sister’s son. “Ah,
nah,
man!”

Salida was one of the last people to push her way out the G-Spot door, but she was the first one who saw shit for what it was.

“The girl!” she pinched Ace’s fat arm and hissed under her breath as Nooni screamed her head off from the front seat. “Get her outta that damn car and bring her back inside!”

Ace rushed over to the passenger-side of the car and flung the door open. In one movement he scooped Nooni’s ass up off the floor and cradled her in his massive arms. He positioned her head so that it was in the crook of his left arm, and then he squeezed her in a bear-hug that almost took her breath away.

“Say one word, bitch,” he warned her in a deep growl. “One word, and I’ll break ya fuckin’ neck.”

Nooni went limp with fear. Her desperate screams turned into soft hiccups as Ace carried her toward the G-Spot.

“I don’t think you should be moving that child.” An old bag lady standing next to a shopping cart filled with junk chastised Ace as he walked past. “How you know she ain’t broke her back?”

“Damn Miss Bag Lady!” Ace barked, as he carried Nooni over the threshold of the G-Spot with Salida quickly following them. “What? You’s a fuckin’ bag doctor too? Ain’t nothing broken on this broad. I got her ass.”

CHAPTER 24

When Ace told that old bag lady that he had Nooni’s ass, he really meant that shit. She was a prisoner for real now. With Truth dead—cold slumped for no apparent reason—Ace and Salida were about to play her ass closer than close.

“Where the hell did you think you were going?” Salida grilled her as Ace smacked the hysterical young girl upside her head. They were sitting in Salida’s small office upstairs in the cut room, and Nooni was hysterical and feening for a hit. Bits of blood and gore from Truth’s blasted dome stuck to her face and arms.

“Please, Mizz Salida…I
need
it…” Nooni cried, ducking Ace’s next blow as she begged and shivered and reached her trembling arms out toward Salida.

“You need your fuckin’ ass kicked!” Ace bellowed. “You just got a good niggah killed, you dumb bitch!”

Nooni’s head swirled in a vacuum of fear and grief. She couldn’t stop hearing the sound those bullets had made as they sank into Truth’s flesh. Or the gurgling noise he made deep in his throat, and especially the sight of his mangled eyeball after the bullet tore through his brain and continued wreaking destruction on its exit path.

“Please…she begged. Her mouth was dusty and her bowels were going loose. “Mizz Salida, help me. Gimme just a little bit. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I swear I will!”

“What
I
wanted you to do,” Salida said sternly, “was meet me in the goddamn office like you were told to do! We could have avoided all of this,” she took Nooni’s hand gently and lowered her voice. “None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me and trusted me!”

“I
do
trust you!” Nooni shrieked. Her raw need was gnawing at her. That monkey on her back was demanding to be fed. She dry-heaved from her empty stomach and her entire body convulsed in agony. “I swear I trust you, Mizz Salida. You’re the only person I’ll
ever
trust!”

“It sure doesn’t seem like it,” Salida disputed. “You don’t run away from the people you trust, child.”

“He
made
me run!” Nooni blurted out. The young girl wanted what Salida had so bad that she lied like a mutha on her dead man. “Truth made me go outside and get in the car! He said if I didn’t….” she searched for something to say that would get her what she needed, “if I didn’t run then something bad was gonna happen to me!”

“Don’t you know all the bad stuff is happening out
there?
” Salida pointed toward the window as she went inside her desk drawer and came out with a small vial and a set of works. Ace and Nooni watched in silence as she cooked the crystals in a spoon and sucked the liquid up in a syringe.

“The cops are already looking for you because of that man you killed,” Salida reminded Nooni as she stood up and grabbed her trembling hand. She slapped up a vein in the crease of the young girl’s arm. “What do you think the police are going to do if they find out you were in the car with Truth when those bullets started flying? They’re gonna want to know who was shooting and why. They’re going to want to talk to you, Nooni. They’re going to take you in.”

Nooni’s eyes were wide as she stared at the syringe in Salida’s hand. She knew she was being elevated to the next level, and while the thought of getting on the needle scared the hell outta her, everything else about her life scared her even more.

She trembled as she held her arm out and allowed Salida to shoot a syringe full of liquid meth into her veins. Salida made soft, soothing noises as she pressed the plunger and flooded Nooni’s system with heat.

“There you go,” she cooed sweetly as Nooni sighed and relaxed. The young girl leaned forward and rested her cheek against Salida’s stomach like she was her mother. Above her, Salida wrinkled up her nose. The smell of fear, sweat, bloody gore, and unwashed ass came off Nooni in a thick wave, and as much as she wanted to push the girl away, Salida patted her back and stroked her hair instead.

She glared at Ace and craziness was all in her eyes. “Run downstairs and get Monique for me,” she demanded. “This here baby needs a bath. Tell Monique and Honey Dew to come get Nooni cleaned up so she can be fresh and ready for tonight.”

$$$$$

Pluto was on fire. His nephew was dead, and somebody was gonna have to pay.

 “I’ma kill her. I swear to God I’ma smoke that hoe! That little bitch got my fuckin’ nephew slumped, man!”